Scenario 12.1 : Simon and Paula are walking home from school and come across a man being attacked by a crazed miniature poodle. It takes only one of them to save the man from the poodle, but since responsibility is diffuse, each is only 70% likely to try to rescue the man.
-Refer to Scenario 12.1. Suppose that a third friend, Ryan, joins Simon and Paula on their way home from school, and this reduces the probability of any particular individual from stepping forward to help the man being attacked from 70% to 60%. In this case, the ________ and the the man's chance of being rescued ________ because of Ryan joining the group.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The size effect refers to the increase in the likelihood of someone helping when there are more people present. The diffusion effect refers to the decrease in the likelihood of someone helping when there are more people present. In this case, the size effect outweighed the diffusion effect, so the man's chance of being rescued increased.